Summertime offers a lot of freedom – maybe not to you but it does to kids out of school. If you have kids who fall into the “school’s out for summer” category, then you understand the struggle of keeping them entertained. However, in this technology-driven culture, you probably resist the urge to simply sit them in front of an iPad, television, or a video game. A few of the major issues resulting from a lack of family time in children are low self esteem, minimal communication, and poor academic performance. If you see these in your children, hopefully these ideas will help you strengthen them as individuals while also spending time with your family.

Build Self Esteem:

Even as adults, a lot of us struggle with self esteem. We don’t know how to maintain it; and if we’ve never had it, we don’t know how to create it in ourselves. But for children, a lot of their self worth comes from their parents. When parents reassure and cheer their kids on, they will start building an idea of their worth. To do this, allow your kids to make decisions. Ask them what they think and let them decide how to spend their time (within reason, obviously). Spend one-on-one time with them as well. Spending time with one or both parents alone reinforces their worth to their parents. 

Encourage Communication:

Sharing opinions and critical thinking forms out of good communication at a young age. Through simple games, you can help your children become comfortable with processing their thoughts and determining which opinions to share and how to share them. Games like Family Talk, Feelings in a Jar, and Blurt It Out are great ways to help them share their thoughts and strengthen their confidence in opinions. 

Strengthen Academic Performance:

Boosting and creating outlets for creativity will help children’s overall academic performance. This is also an opportunity to spend one-on-one time with your kids as you build different interests and explore their sense of creativity. Put train tracks together, play with Play-doh, go on trips to zoos or museums. Any way you can help them build their own thoughts, creativity, and imagination will cultivate a high academic performance as they grow older. 

Ideas and approaches were pulled from resources such as: 

• https://www.parentingni.org/blog/time-together-importance/
• https://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/social/boost-your-childs-self-esteem/
• https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/activities-to-Encourage-speech-and-Language-Development/